Friday, July 14, 2017

PCG Scare Mongering About Far Leftists in Germany

Violent protests at summits of world leaders have occurred since the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle in 1999 if not earlier. So it should not have been too surprising that unfortunately similar things have now occurred during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. But PCG's writers are intent on making their followers convinced that the end of our society is about to occur any moment now so naturally they scare mongers about those protests. Also PCG's writers lean far to the right and are quite hostile to any political movement that happens to be left wing.

Let us see PCG's response to the protests in Hamburg. (Richard Palmer, The Far Left Vs. Germany, July 12, 2017.)

Palmer points out that most of the protesters were peaceful. That is often the case for these protests that occur during prominent meetings. Most protesters are peaceful but a few choose to engage in dangerous and violent behavior.

Of course, not all the protesters were violent. Police estimate that around 20,000 demonstrated and around 1,500 rioted. But even the “peaceful” ones called their first official march “Welcome to Hell”—hardly an invitation to a restrained exercise of the right to peaceful protest.

He stirs up PCG's partisanism against any left wing political movement or organization in the following passage.

The Hamburg protests shine a light on Germany’s dangerous far-left movements. The nation certainly has its own history of far-left violence—going back to militant groups such as the Red Army Faction during the Cold War. Hamburg has long been a hub for this home-grown extremism. At the same time, it is also part of a growing, global, far-left movement.

Even though he just said there were about 20,000 protesters and that most of them were peaceful he then says there were "more than 100,000 by many counts" and they are all condemned as participating in "extreme protests." Can he get his story before posting it online?

The fact that tens of thousands—more than 100,000 by many counts—were willing to take part in such extreme protests in modern Germany shows a serious unhappiness with the current economic and political system.

He then scare mongers about a marginal political party, namely the Left Party.

You can see this same unhappiness and extremism in the rise of the far-left Left Party—the successor to the old East German Communist Party. The Socialist Unity Party ran the infamous Stasi secret police.... In like manner, the Left Party wants to end NATO and big businesses. It takes busts of Karl Marx on the campaign trail. ... some of its members—in Bavaria, the entire party—are under government surveillance over fears that it wants to overthrow the state.

While it is certainly true that the Left Party is the heir of the infamous Socialist Unity Party that ruled East Germany with an iron fist under one party rule and shut its people behind the infamous Berlin Wall, today it is a marginal party primarily based in what used to be East Germany.

Normally PCG likes to scare monger about the far right in Germany but Palmer has no trouble demonizing the far left in Germany when the circumstances require it.

The Left Party has been winning significant support in regional elections—even joining the government state coalition in Thuringia after receiving nearly 30 percent of the vote.

The extreme left is rising in Germany. The rise of the fringe-right Alternative for Deutschland certainly is concerning. But it is quite a ways behind the Left Party.

And then he strangely imply that the Nazi Party was somehow left wing and right wing at the same time.

It’s important to remember that “Nazi” stands for “National Socialist”—it was as much a left-wing movement as a right-wing one.

One critique of the spurious claim that the Nazi Party was somehow left wing may be seen courtesy of David Neiwert.

Palmer also appeals to Armstrongism's long history of anti-Catholicism by citing Pope Francis' comments about the G20 summit.

They received an even more high-profile support from Pope Francis. “The G-20 worries me; it hits migrants in countries in half of the world and it hits them even more as time goes by,” he said in an interview published by La Repubblica on Saturday. He said he feared it could lead to a “very dangerous alliances among powers that have a distorted vision of the world.”

PCG teaches that the final Pope will be an evil, miracle working person who will use miraculous powers, such as summoning fire from the sky, to prop up the future European Empire fated to conquer the United States.

Palmer scare mongers that these protests will cause the European Union to unite.

Meanwhile, the entire spectrum of the German press is outraged. Germany has a far-left extremism problem that indicates a far wider dissatisfaction with the status quo. But outside of those far-left extremists, there’s very little tolerance for this kind of violence.

It’s early days yet, but there’s already a lot of talk on concrete actions in response. Politicians from both sides of the political spectrum are vying to outdo each other with their condemnation of the protesters and calls for action.

Gabriel and Justice Minister Maas have called for a Europe-wide response, where countries share a database on left-wing extremists.

PCG and many of the other COG splinter groups teach that the European Union is fated to transform into a militaristic superpower which will violently conquer the United States and take Americans back to Europe as slaves in what they call the Great Tribulation. The COGs have continuously been scare mongering about such a thing since the 1930s and yet their dire proclamations are never fulfilled.

Palmer insists that PCG's message of doom and gloom is finally about to happen.

The Hamburg G-20 summit shone a light on some of the biggest trends the Trumpet is watching. We saw the rise of radical extremism, the pope’s role in encouraging an alternative to the current U.S.-led financial system, and Europe working to build that financial system, even as it announced the outlines of a new trade block with Japan that would rival the North American Free Trade Agreement in size.

Exactly how all these trends interact isn’t clear. Many Germans are clearly dissatisfied with their political system, yet at the same time abhor the violence exhibited by those protesters.

But what is clear is that Germany and the U.S. are on different paths. America is becoming a pariah to the world; Germany is hailed as its new leader. America is threatening to raise tariffs on exports, while Germany is one of the foremost preachers of free trade (what it actually practices is another matter). America’s politicians cave in to the radical left; Germany’s rally around the rule of law.

The radical left is weakening the U.S. But in Germany there is strength.

(Incidentally PCG has a long history of demonizing Japan. That reference to Japan is not just a throw away comment.)

I do not know what will happen in the future but it quite safe to assume that PCG's proclamations of doom and gloom are certain to fail. Since 1989 PCG has made at least 52 failed prophecies. Clearly PCG's leaders are unable to see the future.

If You are new please read this

Hand in Hand for Syria

Keep Somalia's Remittances Open

I encourage readers to sign this petition from Oxfam calling upon the U.S. government to let the Somali diaspora continue to send remittance to their loved ones in Somalia.

Moves have been made to shut down such remittances from Somalis in America. Many Somalis need these remittances. The remittances to Somalia are larger than foreign aid contributions and are a lifeline to these people caught in trouble and turmoil.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

What sort of man is he? A man who could say things like this.

"Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows." (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

"During the ten years I have been an employee of the Worldwide Church, you have been poorly spoken of by most of the ministers and employees I have known. I vividly remember the absolute unbounded glee that was openly expressed by a good number of respected men in the church when you were first "shanghaied." [In 1972.] I could begin by naming names, which I am sure would shock you. I was one of the few who stood, where possible, for you. Your tenure as superintendent of ministers, as I believe the office was then called, was looked on as nightmarish. While you held office during the years of growth, most of those whom I know gave you very little credit for that growth. Almost everyone whom I know, whether they be former friends of yours, or continuing foes, recalls insensitive and terrible things you have done. Without exception, at least among my acquaintances, they all credit you with an unbridled lust for power and list you as one who is willing to pay the price of gaining that power, no matter what. I have, through many of the last few years, believed you had principles you would not violate. Many a man of experience in the church assured me of my error. Events have proven me wrong and them right. Mr. Armstrong has himself been widely quoted as saying of you that you were so righteous that you were so "righteous you were unrighteous." " (David Robinson, Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, Chapter 16, p. 207.)

Of course it is impossible for me to personally verify these assertions but people deserve to know what this knowledgeable man had to say about him.